Merry & Bright

Princess Piggies wants to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and we hope that your season is "Merry  & Bright" just like this hairstyle!  You may recognize this style from our title as you enter our blog.  We've gone ahead and spruced it up just a bit for the holiday!

I found these awesome little LED lights at Walmart and they came with a little battery pack.  This hairstyle is best when you're going out caroling or to see some lights because you'll want to have a scarf to wrap around your princess's neck to not only hide the cord but also to hold your little battery pack in place.  (My daughter just had it in the hood of her shirt here and then wore a jacket over the top with a scarf wrapped around her neck.)

The instructions for the original hairstyle, "Crossed Hawser Braids," can be found here.  I'll give you some brief updates for illuminating it as well.  :)

Once you've completed your Crossed Hawser Braids you will want to grab your strand of lights and begin poking the up through the under side of the braids.  try to keep your wires either under or behind the braids.  Don't worry too much about the wires that are hanging out below because those will get covered.  Remember to leave the end connected to the battery pack accessible and coming out of the middle.

Now you will want to grab a stretch band or wide ribbon to hide your wires with.  We've used a stretch band here and just wrapped it around the two side of the Hawser Braids and over all the wires in the back. 

 I was worried that the hairstyle was becoming heavy but my princess said that it wasn't heavy or bothersome at all.  Tuck your battery pack into either a hood or scarf, turn your switch on, and you are ready to go for a night out!

My princess wore her hair like this when we went out to see some lights and people were just as impressed with her as they were with the scenery! 

We will be back with some fun new posts at the beginning of the year and will be taking a small vacation until then. 

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Securing A Stretch Band

My princess loves wearing the stretch headbands but I've always hated them because I can never get them to stay in place.  After a few trials and errors we finally found our solution. 

I usually start by creating a small, off-centered part in the bangs and I brush them towards the ears. 

I then pull a bit of hair next to each ear forward before placing the headband on the head. 

 Get your headband in place and then pull the two pieced of hair over the band and secure it with another small piece of hair behind the elastic.  Use a small elastic to join the two pieces on each side. 

 Now lift all the hair up and pull a small section of hair out from underneath the band right at the nape of the neck.  Pull it over the band and secure it with s bit of hair under the band with an elastic.  Once these three elastics are in place, the band will not go anywhere! 

You can leave it like this or finish of the hair however you like. 

We've done a Corkscrew next to each ear that we joined in the back of the head with an elastic. 

I straightened the rest of her hair and then added a flower clip to hide the elastic.  Her hair looked as good at the end of the day as it did at the start!  Hope this tip helps!

Do The Twist

Corkscrews have such a pretty look to them and they hold so nicely that I find myself using them quite a bit.

  Your first step with this style is to create a part from ear to ear so that you have a top section to work with.  Now separate a middle section from that top section and clip it aside for a moment.

 

 You should have two remaining sections from the top that you will want to create Corkscrews out of.  Have your princess hold these two Corkscrews while you move back up to that middle section.

 

 Divide the section into two equal parts and secure each part with an elastic. 

Using your Topsy Tail, create a Pull-Through out of each small section and then twist them both together to create another Corkscrew. 

Combine the three Corkscrews together at the back of the head with an elastic. 

Take the hair from that combination and create another, slightly larger, Corkscrew.  Add that Corkscrew in with all of the remaining hair at the nape of the neck and secure it with an elastic. 

 Now separate that new ponytail into two even pieces and create a Corkscrew out of each piece.  Twist those two Corkscrews together creating a Hawser Braid.  Add any hair clips you like and you're all finished. 

Lucky Clover

I'm realizing that I didn't really get a great angle of the actual clover itself, but it's a 4-leaf-clover with a Barrel Roll Bun in the middle.

Begin by making 4 equal sections in the hair by parting directly down the middle and then again across the head.  Secure each section with an elastic.  On the top two section you're going to want to make an Inverted Pull-Through and the bottom two sections will be regular Pull-Throughs.

 

Separate each Pull-Through into two pieces and make each piece a Corkscrew.  Pull on Corkscrew to the left and one to the right just above the Pull-Through and then have them meet together again in the middle of the head. 

 Use a claw clip to hold that in place while you do the same steps with the other 3 Pull-Throughs.  Once all 4 leaves of the clover have been created you can secure the Corkscrews all together in the middle with an elastic. 

We have gone ahead and brushed out some of the Corkscrews and left some of them in tact for our Barrel Roll.  Barrel Roll the hair in the middle down and secure it with bobby pins.  Add a ribbon or hair clip over the Barrel Roll.  

If time had not been such an issue this morning we would have laced each leaf with green ribbon which adds nice color but also helps to hold the leaves in their shape.  You may need to add some bobby pins here and there to help hold the shape of your leaves if you choose not to use ribbon. 

Hope you all had a great St. Patrick's Day! 

Pull-Throughs, Corkscrews & Braids

This hairstyle is a little bit of everything all rolled into one.

Create a part right down the middle of the hair that is about 4 inches long.  Now create a part that crosses right through the middle of it that is also about 4 inches long.  Create 4 equal squares out of the parts and secure each square at it's far end with an elastic. 

 Create a Pull-Through out of each ponytail so that you have two Pull-Throughs on each side of the head. 

 Pull the rest of the hair back into a ponytail - making sure to leave the Pull-Throughs out.  Now create a Corkscrew out of the two Pull-Throughs on each side of the head. 

 Wrap the two Corkscrews over each other at the back of the head and around the elastic holding your ponytail.  Secure them with their own elastic just under the ponytail elastic. 

Now brush all the hair together and braid it so that all the elastics are concealed.  Secure your braid at the bottom with one final elastic and hide it with a hair clip of your choice. 

There you have it - nice and simple but fun to look at!

Getting Connected

This is a great hairstyle for a day when you have exactly 5 minutes or less to get out the door!  On this particular morning we were running VERY late and it shocked me when we were finished in 5 minutes and I even had time to take pictures.  :)

Start by brushing all the hair out.  Make a 2 inch part right up front and right in the middle of the forehead.  Now gather a small section on each side of the part and create a Corkscrew out of each.  Combine the two Corkscrews at the back of the head with an elastic.

  Gather two more small sections just below the first - one on each side.  Create two more Corkscrews and combine them together in the back of the head with an elastic.  Add the previous combination in as well and secure it all with an elastic. 

 Gather two final sections just below the second ones and create Corkscrews out of them as well.  Combine them in the back of the head with the rest of the combinations and secure it all with an elastic. 

 We've gone ahead and hidden our elastics with small claw clips but you could use ribbon as well. 

 Fast and Easy!

Springs

Here's a simple one that you're going to love! 

Give your princess her bath the night before you want to create your "Springs".

 

 After her bath you'll want to pull her hair into two piggies and Create a Hawser Braid out of each. 

 A Hawser Braid is made by twisting two Corkscrews together. 

Have her sleep in the Hawser Braids and in the morning her hair should be nice and dry.  (Hopefully... if not you can use a dryer to help it along.) 

 Now you can unravel your Hawser Braids and you should end up with 4 fun "Springs" on each side. 

 Of course, the perfect bow to top these off is a Korker bow!  :)

Korkers are made by wrapping Grosgrain ribbon around a dowel and popping them in an oven heated to 225 degrees for 25 minutes. 

Happy 2011!

It's so nice to be back home and getting back into our regular routine.  I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year!  We mostly used old hairstyles while we were on our trip but this is one that was new for us.

Start by creating 5 small Pull-Through sections around the front of the hairline. 

Now create 4 more Pull-Through sections behind the original 5.  (Make sure they are staggered and the parts aren't directly behind the first ones.)

Create a Corkscrew out of each Pull-Through.  Divide the front middle Pull-Through into two Corkscrews.  Now create 3-inch part down the middle of the hair, directly behind the sections your created.  Section out some hair from the middle part down the the left ear and pull that hair, along with the Corkscrews from that side of the head into an elastic.  Do the same for the right side as well. 

 Now straighten out the rest of the hair and curl the ends under.  We added some twisty jewels to the front Pull-Throughs and some Christmas Tree clips to the back elastics to finish it off.  

Thanksgiving Fun

So this really isn't a Thanksgiving hairstyle but I wanted to at least honor the holiday.  :)  My original idea was to try and create a cornucopia and it just didn't turn out right so we went with this instead.

Begin by parting the hair right down the middle and then creating a parallel part on both sides. 

You should end up with 4 vertical sections. 

Tie each off with an elastic right in the middle and create a Corkscrew out of each.  Secure your Corkscrews at the ends with elastics. 

 Now, in no particular pattern, wrap the Corkscrews in and around each other until it creates a long bun.  Bobby pin the Corkscrews into place and have your ends coming out through the middle. 

Get your ends really wet and curl them out around your fingers to fan them out a bit.  Spray the hair with some hairspray and it will hold all day long. 

Now the only part of this hairstyle that has anything to do with Thanksgiving is the pilgrim clips underneath.  :)